As White as Snow
As White as Snow is the second pilot and episode of Gotham Knights. It tells this continuity's version of Mr. Freeze's origin as first invented in "Heart of Ice" and his attempts at revenge on Roman Sionis. Synopsis Mr. Freeze begins his vengeance against his corrupted, former employer, Roman Sionis. Story The room was dark, it would be as black as the darkest night if part of it were not illuminated by a light blue tank built into the wall and centered. A beautiful, young woman was inside of it and her eyes were closed. A door opened, and a new figure entered and sat across from the tank, remaining in the shadows. He spoke with an emotionless voice, but any eavesdropper-there was not one-could have easily told just how much he was holding back as he spoke. “White as snow, pure as the first fall, and as lively as a Winter Bloom; preserved in cruel, but gentle ice. All the time in the world: stolen. Fate, nature, society: all unforgiving, they don’t know what it is like to love. We did. Nothing can keep us apart forever, and those who try must feel our pains, our frostbite. Sweet dreams, love, sleep well knowing I’ll keep all of my promises.” He rose, turned into the shadows, and left the room. It was time to begin. ‡ ‡ ‡ While a shaded man spoke of love and snow, elsewhere a bank was raided. The simply walked up to the teller as if it was a normal day, before pointing the gun at her and sliding his slip. The teller couldn’t believe that he was robbing the bank with his own slip, but did as he ordered anyway out of fear for her life, assuming he knew how to use a gun. Taking his slip back, he left hiding the gun under his coat as if nothing had happened and walked out the door into the night, and as far as everyone else was concerned, nothing did happen. People can be awfully ignorant anywhere. He climbed into his truck and made his getaway snickering to himself until he realized he was being followed by a long and thing black car. He sped up. Batman had been tracking this man for a few days now. His name was Boyd Victorson and he wasn’t the brightest. This was his fourth robbery and he had used his own card at all of them. His pattern was simple. First Bank of Gotham on his first night, second on his second, third on his third, and fourth on his fourth. Batman sped up in an attempt to ram him, but before he knew it, both he and Victorson were skidding out of control. The road was frozen, and in the middle of July. Victorson's truck had overturned and Batman exited the Batmobile to detain him, careful not to slip. ‡ ‡ ‡ Inside a warehouse, a man stared at a snow globe with a ballerina figurine inside, resembling the woman he had spoken too through the tank earlier. He had the palest skin: white, and wore red goggles over his eyes. His body was encased in a bulky, gray suit with tubes coming off of the back and his head under a dome helmet. He looked up and watched as his henchmen fumbled with machinery. Looking back down, he told the globe, “Soon, my love,” in the same tone as before. But still, no one listened. Outside of the warehouse, Batman hid the Batmobile in an alleyway before aiming a grapple-gun at the gutter on the roof to raise himself above. He looked through a skylight and saw a security guard, nothing out of the ordinary, except that he was frozen; encased in solid ice. Curiosity taking form, Batman leaned in again to try and see more. There were still thugs there; they were loading a van with equipment, technology, and parts from around the warehouse. He pulled a tool similar to a screwdriver out of his belt and used it to open the skylight. He jumped down into the warehouse and spread his cape to heed his descent, landing silently and unnoticed behind the security guard. He really was encased in a block of ice. The thugs took no notice of the descent and continued their business. Making his move, Batman stepped out and threw a batarang at one of the thugs who dropped a desk lamp onto the ground as he lost balance and fell. “Seize him,” the emotionless voice commanded. “Except for you, Walker, get in the van.” Batman looked over and saw the man in the strange suit that it belonged to, his goggled eyes staring right back at him. Neither set of eyes gave any emotion away. Five goons surrounded Batman and he knocked them down one-by-one and two-by-two with in little time. The parkas they were all wearing slowed them down. The gray-clad man watched, calm as each of the suffocating men fell. “Freeze,” Batman commanded, a batarang poised to throw. “Precisely,” he replied, in the same neutral tone. He and Batman advanced towards each other until the pale man stopped and gestured. A blue beam shot from the opened-doors of the van’s rear at Batman’s legs. They became encased in ice. “Don’t worry; I’m not going to kill you. Gotham needs its protector; I just need the protector out of the way.” He walked to Batman’s back and pulled his cape to the side. He grabbed his hands and pulled one of them behind his back. Batman struggled, but the man had an artificial strength about him. He removed the glove, pulled the sleeve back from the arm, took out a syringe, a sedative, and stuck it in. He pulled the glove and sleeve back on as Batman's eyes clothes and he fell back. “Get up,” he commanded to his fallen thugs. “And Walker, help my get the bat-man into the truck.” "Yes, Mr. Freeze." ‡ ‡ ‡ When Batman awoke to a cold draft, he was hanging upside down from the ceiling; his legs were still encased in ice. He looked around the room and recognized it as a lab. The walls were a light blue with silver machinery and tubing laced around it with an industrial aura. Some sort of gun was being constructed in the center of the room out of the parts stolen from the warehouse by the pale man in the suit. The strangest thing about the cell was a blue capsule holding a woman in suspended animation. Looking for some clue as to who had taken him or where he was, he looked around the room when the man spoke, “I don’t know what exactly your curse is, but I know you are a kindred spirit. You can call me Freeze.” “What?” Batman asked. “No one would just dress-up as a bat to terrorize scum without a void, an absence, in your heart. Something was taken away from you too, I don’t ask who or what it was, but I understand: that woman in there, she was the only good thing in my life, she made it worth all the bitter winters and frostbite…but she fell ill,” he said this with as little emotion as he did before, but it only made it more somber. “Why do you wear the suit?” Batman asked. “No one just wears a snow globe.” “I’m sure you know cruelty; people who don’t understand or even try to. I was a scientist for GothCorp. I used my love's dying body for my experiment: I was on the verge of discovering a way to immortality. It would give the innocent plagued by cancer and disease a chance to survive in stasis until a cure was found. But my project was shut down. I refused to accept it at first; she would be killed if it was closed. I tried to fight back, but they talked me out of it, only to push into a premature vat of the coolant I was creating; it should have killed me. But, I had a meta-gene. Rather than die, I took on the properties of the solution: it slowed my aging and made me sensitive to anything above subzero. The suit keeps me refrigerated.” He paused and tightened a bolt on the gun before freezing up. "I died that night. They did kill me, my soul is just frozen to my body for eternity. I am stuck in an endless Winter. They say the underworld is a fiery pit, scorching tender flesh as the cursed stare upward to a paradise they can never touch. It is a myth. I am living Hell on Earth, and it's cold-so cold-but paradise is still an eternity away." Batman stared as he did before. He understood. Freeze did know something about him under the mask. He had been given a sweet and cherished taste of love, only to have it yanked away and replaced with ignorance and cruelty in what felt like death. But there had been one in the alley the night his parents died who looked him in the eye and sympathized; proven that there were good people in the ever darkening world. Was that all this man had needed? "I'm sorry about her, and you," Batman said. "This world is cold and unforgiving. You might even say that in the midst of tragedy there is only the cold-shoulder. Death comes early for some. I can only hope that judgement comes early for others." “You’re better than this.” “I know you understand. I know you don’t want to. But look what he did to me. It wasn’t enough to try and kill us; he separated me from the world. I’m trapped in my own tundra, Batman, never to feel the warm rays of the sun, an autumn breeze, or fresh rain…things which are taken for granted unless it is the dead of winter. I am there, with no hope of escape, not even my own demise. That monster must know what he did.” With this, Freeze took out his sedative again, advanced towards Batman and repeated the same process as in the warehouse. Batman tried to resist, but his encased legs didn't give him much headway. “They must know,” Freeze finished as Batman went limp again. ‡ ‡ ‡ When he woke again later, the room was devoid of other human life, sans the woman in the tank. Batman took out a batarang he had hidden in his leggings. He scanned the room, until he saw it: the controls keeping the ice he was encased in ventilated. He threw it and felt a rush of warm air that replaced the cold one as the ice melted and became softened. He hit at it in its imperfections with the spikes on his gloves to break it up faster, and soon enough it gave way and he fell to the floor, landing on his back. Batman got up immediately, grabbed his batarang and belt, and left the room. He found the building to be an abandoned ice cream factory. It was deserted again. Freeze and his henchmen all seemed to have left for the time being. He proceeded to abandon it himself. The sky was yellow-orange with red on the horizon. He must not have been away for too long. Batman checked the Batmobile’s homing device and found it to be only a few blocks away, right where he left it. He made the sprint and drove off back to his cave. When he arrived, he was greeted by Alfred who had been more worried than usual. “You were gone all day, sir; it has almost nearly been twenty-four hours.” “So, Harvey’s party is now?” “It is just about to start in an hour or so. Miss Vale called to cancel. She said something about needing to review a new tofu restaurant in the mall.” “Good. I need to leave again.” “What shall I tell your replacement? She's helping to save the environment from the comforts of our Manor." "What?" "I found her at the annual bachelorette auction the Randolf Foundation holds. A Miss Selina Kyle." “Tell her I need to cancel.” "She already seemed most disappointed I would not be accompanying her this evening. It would only be adding insult to injury to tell her she can't enjoy the hors d'oeuvres. Oh, and she is already upstairs with Gilda and Harvey, who says he needs a word with you." "Fine, she can stay, but I expect you to find her another distraction." Batman left to change out of his costume. “How was it?” another voice asked after he walked out of the changing room. “How was what?” Bruce asked as he looked into a mirror and fixed his tie. “The robbery, the chase. Something must have happened, you were gone all day.” “Why would you want to know? Don’t you have homework to do, Dick?” Bruce asked as he walked into an elevator and the door closed just as he finished. He had promised Dick that he would train him to also become a vigilante; he had suffered a similar scene to Bruce when he was young, but Bruce was hoping he would forget the idea. He believed that the life of a super hero was a tragic path to take, and many before would agree with him, even if those after would not. A small group had formed upstairs. Harvey Dent, his girlfriend, Gilda, and Selina Kyle, who seemed rather bored, were sitting in a drawing room with Alfred who had already come upstairs standing close by. As Bruce entered through the doorway, Harvey got up, asked for a moment, and pulled Bruce right back through the door, leaving Gilda uncomfortable and struggling to converse with Selina, who didn't seem to show interest in anything she said. “I’ve got something to show you,” he said as he pulled a small, blue box out of one of the pockets in his favorite white suit and opened it to reveal a sparkling engagement ring. Bruce raised his eyebrow and Harvey frowned at him. “I’m going to ask Gilda to marry me,” he said happily as his face lit back up. “And thanks for letting me hold this party at your manor.” The party was for a pre-victory over Rupert Thorne at tomorrow’s trial, but Dent was going to give it a dual meaning, which he liked to do, it would be an engagement party too. The guests began to arrive shortly after, a gathering of many of Dent’s acquaintances over the years, especially the impressive ones. He proceeded to introduce Gilda to as many of them as he could, and he did it anxiously. With the waves of guests, Bruce tried to sneak out when he heard a woman clear her throat behind him. He turned around to see the dark-haired Selina in a matching dress and her crossed arms. “So, Mr. Wayne,” she said. “Yes?” he asked. “Aren’t we on a date?” “Yes, but--” “Roman Sionis. Do you know him? Fat-cat CEO, Exploits tropical islands, tests on animals...” she said. “I’d like to try and, err, convince him otherwise.” Bruce pulled out a cell phone and asked for a moment as he left the room. He returned a few minutes later and told Selina she had a meeting three months from now. “But in the meantime, he is right over there,” he said pointing into the crowd to a man with a thin face. “Suddenly, I’m much more attracted to you,” Selina thanked with the interest Gilda couldn't give taking form. “How about we try a real date in a month or so? Your butler has my number,” she said as she walked off towards Sionis. Bruce made his way into his study, lifted a Shakespeare bust, and pressed a button under it which opened the bookcase to reveal an elevator behind it. In the Batcave, he climbed a flight of lattice steps to the high-tech computer, which Dick and Alfred referred to as the bat-computer (they referred to nearly everything in or from the cave as “bat”). His thoughts returned to Freeze, looking for a clue as to who he could be after, but he had only said his target worked at GothCorp about a year ago. Batman pzzled over it and searched on the computer until Selina’s comments about Sionis' treatment of animals slipped into his mind. His godmother, Leslie, had taught him that a person's humanity can best be learned from how they treat not only people, but animals. Sionis was GothCorp's CEO. He dug his fingers into the keyboard and searched the city's archives until he found a newspaper article describing a Dr. Victor Fries (pronounced “frees”) diving into a vat of chemicals and dying after he was caught embezzling equipment and funds to try and resurrect the dead. It had to be Sionis. “Going out again?” Dick asked as Batman climbed behind the Batmobile's wheel. “Don’t you have homework?” “Can I help?” Dick asked, “I’ve been training under you for over a year now.” “And you still aren't ready,” Batman said as he drove away. ‡ ‡ ‡ Meanwhile, Freeze was in the back of his van with his henchmen, but in a corner away from the rest. He normally felt secluded from them, but now he was especially displeased. Batman had escaped. Freeze could only hope that he would not get in the way, but he didn't. All the hope he could draw was out of love and hate and, yes, the Dark Knight was a kindred spirit, but he was also an obstacle. They were on their way to the GothCorp tower. Freeze had completed the contraption he had been stealing parts for: a hand-held version of the larger freezing ray in the truck, designed especially for a Mr. Roman Sionis. The truck parked outside of an uninteresting skyscraper. Freeze and his henchmen exited the truck and walked through the front door and right up to the "LINE STARTS HERE" sign. Walker went farther, towards the sole person in the room, a receptionist. She was a tired, young woman fueled by coffee and running on low and more than half asleep, slowly rocking back and forth as she snored. “We are here to see Mr. Sionis,” Walker dictated in his most forceful tone. “What?” the woman asked just waking up to stare at a man wearing a parka in the middle of Summer, which only made her eyes fly wide open. "Oh! Of course, sure..." She pressed a red button and spoke, “Security,” into an intercom. Half a dozen security guards arrived, each carrying a firearm. In response, the half a dozen men wearing parkas in July each pointed a gun at a guard. Freeze made the first shot, and sent an ice ball the size of an orange at one of the guards, who fell back. The other guards were taken by surprise. Most of them were frozen in place until they were drawn back by a gunshot issued by a brave guard. The lobby became a battle-ground with Freeze and the men in parkas on the left using tables as shields and the guards on the other side doing the same. Freeze shot a second ball after an opposing table and blew it out of the way, sweeping an unconscious guard aside. He then lifted a hand to signal to both sides to stop. Out of fear, both sides did. He shot a blue beam across the room at the guards and encased them in ice just as the one in the warehouse had been. Walker approached the receptionist and calmly said, “There must have been a mistake. We would like to see Roman Sionis.” Her eyes were glazed over. Her dreams had awoken to nightmares. “His office is on the top floor, at the end of the hall, and his penthouse...is above.” She shrugged back into her chair, covered her face, and wept as the men in parkas and their armored leader marched on into the elevator. This was how Batman found her when he entered a minute later. He saw a mess of a lobby with roughly ten men frozen to the sides and a woman weeping in the center. “Where did they go?” Batman asked her. The receptionist sat herself up and pulled her sticky hands away from her cheeks. “Top floor,” she said weakly. “If you're up to it, give the men over there these,” Batman said handing her several packets he pulled from his belt, “It will break up the ice,” he continued, “they might develop colds, but they should be fine.” He left her for the elevator. Freeze stood as blankly as ever when Walker reported that Sionis was not in his office nor the penthouse, as three henchmen had checked. He only glanced around the place, looking for something that would hurt Sionis, show him his pain. Of course there was nothing that would hurt him the way Freeze hurt. The icy touch of death was the only suitable punishment. But he continued to stare until his eyes fixed on an invitation. "The monster is at Wayne Manor tonight, carelessly enjoying himself as he celebrates victory over scum. Scum he is. There will be plenty of witnesses there, some just as evil as he no doubt. Plenty of witnesses to see a real evil freeze-up before their very eyes. To Wayne Manor we go." ‡ ‡ ‡ When Batman reached the top floor, the door that ended the hallway had been knocked down. He made his way inside found Sionis’ invitation to Harvey’s party on the remains of a desk. He was hoping Freeze would not get this far. Batman headed back down to the lobby by the stairs and exited through the back to where the Batmobile was hidden. But it had been found. Not by Freeze and his goons, but by a police detective, Harvey Bullock. He dared not touch it, but he examined every angle and watched carefully for anyone coming close to it. He had been obsessed with discovering who Batman was ever since the Dark Knight first debuted. Batman pressed a button on a remote he removed from his belt and the Batmobile's headlights lit up. Bullock jumped higher than he could if he had wanted-he was a heavy man- and fell on his back. Batman quickly climbed into his car and drove off while Bullock swore under his breath and muttered, "Almost got 'im." The Batmobile drove through the streets as fast as it could without slipping; the van had left ice sheets wherever it had gone. While it sped, Batman contacted the Batcave on his radio to warn Alfred of the approaching posse, but Dick answered instead. "Bat-residence, bat-resident speaking." “Where is Alfred?” "He's busy upstairs. Could I help instead?” “Yes, get Alfred to the radio, and then stay downstairs and do your homework.” Silence followed for a minute or two as Freeze got closer to the manor before Alfred’s voice asked over the intercom, “Yes, sir?” “There is a man on his way to the manor bent on killing Roman Sionis. I left a file I was compiling on him open on the computer. I want you to be ready, but you can’t let the guests know what is going on.” “I could have done that,” a different and younger voice replied. “Do your homework,” Batman replied automatically. A few more minutes passed and Freeze arrived. He slammed the front door open while the men in parkas stood guard outside. He wasn’t noticed at first, but the crowd froze when they realized what was happening. A few people seemed oblivious, including Selina and Sionis, the latter of which was making their way to the front of the crowd to escape the former. Sionis halted when he found himself staring at red lenses on a hard, pale face. Freeze raised his gun and shot a beam at Sionis’ toes and gradually advanced upwards, encasing him in ice slowly as he went. “How I have waited for this moment,” he said. “What have I done to deserve this?” Sionis asked helplessly as the crowd looked on. If she hadn’t been afraid for herself, Selina would have retorted, but she kept silent and allowed the man in the dome to answer. He was doing a fine job as it was. “It's so beautiful, isn't it? The ice...." "It's...cold," Sionis whimpered. "I know. You are the reason I wear this suit. The reason I am never to feel the sun and why my Siberian exile follows me. You tried to kill my wife. You tried to kill me. How I wished you had. How I wish we could sit on the shores of heaven holding each other's warm, loving hand.” “Victor?” Sionis asked as the ice was up to his elbows. He would have been smiling guiltily if he wasn’t in mortal peril. There was a crash outside. A goon in a torn parka slid through the doorway and then Batman entered. He threw a batarang at Freeze’s dome and was deflected with a tink. Freeze blinked and turned his head to face the Dark Knight, his attention off of Sionis while Batman leaped onto the armored man. They wrestled lightly. Neither truly wanted to hurt the other. “You know what this curse is like,” Freeze said as he threw Batman off. “And I know we are better than this,” Batman replied from the ground. Alfred chose that moment to enter the room as he crept behind Freeze. The only parts of Sionis and the rest of the crowd that moved were their eyes from left to right as they watched the brave butler move. “Can I offer you some chicken soup sir?” he asked as he revealed a thermos. "You seem to have a cold." With that he dumped the contents over Freeze. His cooling system was overridden, and he fainted. The police arrived shortly thereafter and the party disbanded. Batman left right as red and blue lights flashed around the perimeter of the manor and rounded the corner to the cave’s entrance. Dick was waiting. “I finished my homework,” he said. “I’m going to bed,” Bruce replied. ‡ ‡ ‡ Freeze had been granted a special cell in Arkham Asylum. The court deemed him sane, but he wasn’t allowed a suit that would triple his strength while he was imprisoned. His wife’s stasis tube had been taken from him and given to Wayne Enterprises who promised to continue his research and find a cure for her. He did not trust them. The one possession they did not take away from him was the snow globe. He would watch its dancer spin and dwell on the precious memory of his wife and speak to his thoughts of her. “One day, my love, winter will end, every ice age does, and we can both be together then. Rest well; we cannot be kept away forever. We have all the time in the world. I look forward to when we can be together when forever runs out. I look forward to your warm hand taking me there and all of it being over.”